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[Text] Deborah Hobson York Citizenship Award. This is my time. - Beth Alaksa, Coordinator International Mobility Programs
[Ijade] I'm so sorry to interrupt... Beth?
[Ijade] Good Morning! Happy Monday! We're actually here to surprise you...
..and let you know that Lorna has nominated you and you are the recipient of the 2012 Deborah Hobson York Citizenship Award.
[Ijade] So on behalf of the President congratulations... [Beth] ...Thank you
[Beth] It's not a good thing to do on a Monday morning...(laughs)
She made an appointment.. she gets gifts when she travels to our partners and what we've...
..decided to do was try and give those gifts to ...
...students. So she brings them in and says, "Do you want this?"..."Is this good?"
"Would a student like this?" Now when she was working with us we did it on a regular basis...
but because she is not with us anymore she had to make a special appointment. I was like why do we have to make an appointment?
can't she just drop in? (laughs) and then when she came and I said she was drawing out giving me all this stuff
and I thought okay I'll just go with it she seems to really want to talk about it so .. and then when everybody showed up..
...that was a surprise.
I think Beth is the epitome of all the characteristics of the...
..Deborah Hobson Award wants in the awardees...
She cares for her students like a mother... She does everything for them... She will bend over backwards to make sure
...they have what they need.
Beth really inspires me to be a better person...
...and to remember in my job what I'm here for.
One of the things that I've always noticed is that when she interacts with students and with her staff she always putting them..
...above what her own personal needs would be. So she's really looking at what's the best for the university...
...What's the best for the individual and what's the best for the unit.
I think at York we should be about serving the students and I think Beth is very much about service...
...she's here to serve the students. To make life better for them, to help them to achieve their goals.
There are times where you're overwhelmed, or overworked...
...and you want to say something and she'll just back up and..
...she'll say something it could be a simple phrase like, "No, you have to explain this.." or ...
..."the student is here to find out why.." She wants us to be more sympathetic, more supportive to the students.
Beth is a very innovative individual... she's brought several things to the York International Unit...
...that didn't exist before. Things like the Global Cafe which is an informal place for students to gather, to get information..
...about going on exchange. And the letter of recognition... which is something that she instituted.
...So that students will have a tangible recognition of their international experience.
...It was her, her baby, her brain child..
...to create a conference for students who are returning because...
...It's very difficult for students to return they have a reverse culture shock coming home.
...We had gone on a conference together...
...and I remember it was a hike in Utah which was nothing compared to what they had described...
They took us way up high on a mountain and let us come down a steep mountain with a narrow lane all by ourselves...
A lot of people just bypassed me especially me because I was very slow and I'm paranoid, I'm paranoid of heights...
I had no clue this is what I was in for but I remember Beth laughing all the way... giving me the spirits, giving me her hand...
I remember her covering my back each time I got into some situation which wasn't very easy or difficult.
I knew Deborah Hobson - I was here when she was here and I've always felt that she was example that...
...that I found positive and important. She always made time for people. So I was very touched to think that anybody...
...Thought I was anything like that. It means a lot to see that other people saw that I was trying to do that...
...Or that saw that was a positive thing.
[Text] Deborah Hobson York Citizenship Award. This is my time. - Beth Alaksa, Coordinator International Mobility Program.